If we are to understand what local councils are meant to be, not what the PL government has transformed them into; voting for the PN should be everyone's natural choice. It is a known fact that the party that truly believes in importance that local councils have to the lives of people lives is the PN. Contrary to this, the PL government considers local government goes against what their true intention is, which is having more power in their hands to influence elections to their favour. For this reason, under a PL government we are experiencing the erosion of the local council, favoring a system that centralizes power. PL confuses local government with customer care, thus impacting the lives of people with inefficiencies that are avoidable in a truly decentralised system. The efficiency brought by a PN government in 1993 when introducing local council no longer exists, and is replaced with malfunctioning system, which ensures more resources to Labour leaning council as to make them look better. It is a system that runs through the present government and its agencies, one that is intended to trade in influence to the detriment of us all.
The creation of regional councils was intended at bringing local councils of the same region to work together on projects that benefit that given region. The true purpose of regional councils was however betrayed when they became an excuse for the PL government to strip the local councils of their powers. From garbage collection to environmental management and infrastructural maintenance, these all happen to fall under the regional council. Typically, the PL government have sought to fool people by defining regional councils as one thing only to transform them into something completely different. The ultimate aim of coordinating and supporting local councils within the region was thrown out of the window, only to encroach projects that are supposed to implemented locally. Local councils have been blamed by some for the lack of efficiency in our towns and villages. Yet this lack of efficiency is coming to a large degree from the government, especially the Public Works and Infrastructure Malta. The inefficiency of these two entities has fallen on the lap of the Local Councils, especially those with a PN majority.
If we are to take, for example, public gardens, their day-to-day maintenance falls under the local councils. However, landscaping projects fall under the responsibility of the Public Works. In other words, renovation in public gardens as is in Independence Gardens in Sliema the local council I form part of falls under the Public Works. Moreover, public gardens also fall under the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning or Parks Malta which is a government agency. Just imagine what the PL government and their agencies wouldn't do to undermine PN Local Councils and in this way fomment an anti-local council environment in the locality. Little do they care that it is we as Sliema residents who are suffering their dirty tricks. Fortunately, however, local councils with a PN majority as is that in Sliema refuse to fall for this kind of trickery, and are always there to put pressure on both Government Agencies and Ministries.
If we take major road works in Malta, these fall under the responsibility of the government agency, Infrastructure Malta. If we consider the way work is done in towns and villages that have a PN majority as is Sliema, one could see only inefficiency at its worst. A case in point is how Infrastructure Malta worked on the High Street in Sliema. There were times when the number of workers on the site did not justify the magnitude of the project. It took way too long for the project to be completed, and not to mention the damage made of people's properties. Had it not been for the pressure that a PN local council made on Infrastructure Malta, especially the Mayor John Pillow, I am pretty sure that the job would be still halfway through till this very day.
